Tramlines

Wozniacki not boring, backs Dalglish

Caroline Wozniacki is proving to be the star of the Australian Open - and not just in terms of her performances on the court.

While they have been most impressive - the latest a stress-free 6-4 6-3 win over Dominika Cibulkova - her off-court demeanour since arriving in Melbourne has been equally noteworthy.

There was a suggestion in some parts of the world media that the world number one was not delivering at press conferences. She was too boring, full of platitudes and seemingly stuck on repeat. A well-oiled media machine, the kind of player whose comments can be scripted before she even opens her mouth. In short, boring.

It is true there are plenty of those types on the Tour; Tramlines had the dubious pleasure of speaking to one such bore today, although this particular top 10 player's failure to say anything of the slightest interest left Trammers looking for blog material elsewhere.

But Wozniacki is not one of them. The Dane has latent personality. She clearly isn't a tennis tragic, who locks herself in her hotel room and watches tennis videos all day long - she was at the zoo the other day and the MCG playing cricket yesterday, all the while Twittering away and letting us in on her life.

It's not her fault if the post-match questions put to her are repeated ad nauseum. As she said today: "If they ask me about the match, I cannot really say that I like eating bananas."

That in itself is a great line. It came off the back of an offensive (as in attacking, not distasteful) press conference following her win over Cibulkova, in which she hit back at those suggestions (apparently in the South American press) that she was dull.

So she started off herself and got in the stuff she expected to be asked first (about the match, about how happy she as to have won, about whether she deserves to be number one in the world) before opening up the floor to more interesting questions.

And the questions came. What does she think of Kenny Dalglish's appointment as Liverpool manager? "I'm hoping that he will give some positive energy into the lads. It's tough to be a supporter and see them having a hard time."

Global warming? "When you take a shower, don't stay there for half an hour. Two minutes is enough. Even the girls."

Getting married and having kids? "First I have to find a guy."

What does she expect in a man? "Honesty. Understanding what I'm doing. Maybe a sports person himself."

Media coverage of her? "Honestly, I don't really read about myself. I look at the pictures sometimes. Sometimes I'm looking at them and I'm thinking, 'they could choose some better ones'."

If she could ask Andy Murray anything she wanted? "I know he likes to play PlayStation, so I'd probably ask him a few questions about that. And about soccer, because I know he likes Arsenal. No? (Murray supports Hibernian). I think he likes a few teams maybe. "

How's that for interesting, then? It was certainly different from most of the other press conferences Tramlines has witnessed so far in Melbourne. And for that reason, Trammers salutes Caroline Wozniacki - and is very much looking forward to the next instalment.

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One of the features of Tomas Berdych's excellent run to date in Melbourne has been the support he has been able to rely upon from the stands.

The group have been difficult to ignore, with their bare chests sporting individual letters to spell out his name and their Barmy Army-like repertoire of songs, belted out in between points with admirable gusto.

The assumption was that the supporters were, like the majority of England's cricket fans, 'on tour', having made the pilgrimage from the Czech Republic, but when Trammers caught up with Berdych after his straight set win over Richard Gasquet, it became clear that was not the case.

"It's always nice to come here and have this group of young people enjoying the tennis and having fun," the number six seed said.

"I think they are great. It's nothing against fair play. They are just enjoying their day and making the crowd happy too. They're locals. I know a couple of them."

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Tramlines will endeavour to find this bunch of colourful folk before the end of the tournament and get their side of the story. Watch this space.

Elsewhere, something weird happened today. Something very weird. Almost 'X-Files' weird. It happened at the beginning of Maria Sharapova's match with Julia Goerges on Hisense Arena and left those watching wondering what on earth was going on.

Fortunately, we have the incident on tape (or whatever digital thing they use these days), so here it is:

Of course, there was a logical explanation for it - a bubble under the court - and the problem was soon rectified by the swift application of the drill, but it is nevertheless destined to feature in a 'what happened next' quiz in years to come.

SHOT OF THE DAY: Robin Haase 'does a Federer' - of sorts - against Andy Roddick. A truly incredible shot, made even better by his winner moments later.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: When asked what he does with the pots of cash he has earned over the course of his career, Roger Federer replied: "What do you expect that a Swiss guy would say? We put it in the banks, yes, that's what we do. And we sit on top of it. Then we'll see later on what we do with it."